> The word “curry” originated in India, although it did not have a long history there. Instead, it derived from a Portuguese mispronunciation of a term meaning “spices,” which British colonizers applied to a wide swath of Indian dishes.<p>Such misinformation that I can't even...<p><i>Kari</i> is a Tamil word. I am Tamil. It has been in the vocabulary for thousands of years. Just made some elephant yam kari for lunch. It is always dry. Zero gravy. Something with gravy is <i>kootu</i>.<p>(Japanese kare is something completely different. It is by definition a thick gravy. It might trace its origins to india. But it is a separate dish now.)
Nice article. I remember first reading about kinyou curry in the manga series "Zipang" by Kaiji Kawaguchi, in which a modern Japanese Aegis destroyer gets time-warped back to WWII on the first day of the Battle of Midway.<p>Semi-related: We hear a lot about about Japanese curry when it comes to soupy things. But we never hear about Japanese stew (shichuu). Sometimes when I was getting sick of curry--hard to imagine now--a plate of rich creamy (white) beef stew with some rice in the middle of winter was just the thing. The roux blocks for stew were right next to the curry roux blocks in the store. It had a unique taste that I haven't experienced since moving back to the states. Example picture:<p><a href="http://darjapan.blogspot.com/2012/10/hokkaido-cream-stew.html?m=1" rel="nofollow">http://darjapan.blogspot.com/2012/10/hokkaido-cream-stew.htm...</a>
There is a page on the Ministry of Defense website listing curry recipes for various ships/subs/etc. in the JMSDF.<p><a href="http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/family/recipe/archive/currey.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/family/recipe/archive/curre...</a>
I eat pre-mixed Thai curry paste from this brand called "Mae Ploy" with coconut oil, powdered coconut milk, meat (either chicken or beef) and vegetables. There's about five different flavors and for $8 you get a 2 pound bucket of it I have never actually been able to finish one in less than a year.<p>Turns out I can eat an amazing very low carb meal for about $2 a day and 2-3 minutes of meal prep. It's currently my "meal for life".<p>If there is a Japanese pre-mixed curry for sale, let me know!
Ah now I am dropped back 20 years in my past when I first had a curry udon, delicious and piping hot with gigantic pieces of melting tofu and soft boiled potato. I went back often to this cosy locale buried in the chinatown of a busy southern-hemisphere city. One day, it had disappeared and I still feel its loss. Though I try to reproduce this at home, and I try japanese curry whenever I come across one, I'll never again know those first flavours that brought me such happiness. It must have been a homemade curry because every store brand I've tried doesn't match my expectations. I'll keep trying..
The Royal Dutch Navy has a similar tradition: every Wednesday they serve 'blauwe hap' (blue bite, originating from the blue uniforms they used to wear): a dutch adaptation of the Indonesian dish nasi goreng.
I think curry is a adopted food in most cold countries and a native dish in hot, humid countries.<p>A thick stew with tons of spices and salt is basically a food preservation mechanism - especially for vegetables and meat which would spoil quickly.<p>Similarly, the origin of baked bread - cold countries had a stove for heating the home. someone figured out how to use it as an oven. Most hot countries use fried bread or roasted unleaved bread (roti). Because it is insane to stand over a stove for too long in such temperatures.
Just want to chime in to say Japanese curry is awesome! Nothing against Indian or Thai curry, I love those different varieties too.<p>But just that Japanese curry is its own thing, it is very different and you might like it even if you shy away from other kinds.<p>Anybody here a fan of Japanese curry?
Japanese curry is something different and special. There's something really savory and umami about it. CoCo Ichi is the jam, basically the Japanese waffle house.
In case someone is wondering why this only discusses curry being a naval tradition, although both the Army and Navy had the same beriberi problem—the Army solved it the same way as the Navy. Curry is as much a staple meal in the Army as Navy, just not celebrated as a culture as much.
what i took from article for my next cooking:
<i>"powder, butter, meat (typically beef), root vegetables, and a sauce thickened with flour."</i><p>sounds simple enough to try
not just curry but soup is also indian!
of course completely denied by the west so far<p>soup is from sanskrit supa attested in arthashastra of kautilya dated to 1st millennium BC by westerners and 2nd millennium BC by indians<p>see link for specific quote from the text:
<a href="http://www.alexmthomas.com/2016/05/22/a-review-of-trautmanns-arthashastra/" rel="nofollow">http://www.alexmthomas.com/2016/05/22/a-review-of-trautmanns...</a>